Blog entries posted during 2013

Recently, Lisa Timmel, the Huntington’s director of new work, exchanged emails with playwright Gina Gionfriddo about her play Rapture, Blister, Burn . Their conversation centered around feminism and the eternal bonds and conflicts of...

When Gina Gionfriddo’s Rapture, Blister, Burn opens in May 2013, three years will have passed since her Becky Shaw appeared on the Huntington stage. After directing Becky Shaw ’s premiere, New York, and Huntington productions, Peter DuBois...

August Wilson Monologue Competition finalist Iliana Mendez, a student at Brighton High School, shares her story about discovering theatre and performing on her first Broadway stage. Iliana Mendez, center, with Antonio Stroud, Naheem Garcia, and...

“Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.” — Dante's Inferno “I guess the grass is always greener. It’s just . . . It’s what you said, right? It’s that forty-somethin...

So. It's been a week. Or technically it's been a lot of weeks but more specifically it's this past week that has been particularly exciting for all of us here at the Huntington -- following, of course, one of the scariest weeks as Bostonians that...

It is truly hard to find words that can express my gratitude to Alex Truppi and everyone else at the Huntington who has worked with me over the past five years. I would not have had the courage to go out on stage at the August Wilson Theatre and...

From left: Derek Lindesday, Antonio Stroud, and Iliana Mendez On Saturday, March 16, students from eleven Boston high schools competed in the Boston finals of the August Wilson Monologue Competition. Huntington Teaching Artists worked in residenci...

From John J King , the official "Child Wrangler" for A Raisin In The Sun: The things I remember about theater I’ve worked on are behind the scenes — you don’t remember the way an audience laughed at a line on the third Friday, but you remember th...

To recap from the last post , the Huntington Theatre Company was looking for a kid to appear in a small role in Ryan Landry's "M," a wild new play that riffs on the Fritz Lang German film of the same name that gave us Peter Lorre as an obsessed...

Who's got two thumbs and just won a Tony Award? This Guy . Well, technically, this company , but companies don't really have collective thumbs or anything, so the joke doesn't really work as well. Still, the point is: We have a Tony Award! Desiree...

From Matt Chapuran, Institutional Giving Manager At the Huntington Theatre Company, we're taking on a wild adaptation of " M ," the old German Fritz Lang movie that launched Peter Lorre in the role of a child serial murderer. Although in the hands...

We could not be more excited to welcome Mary Zimmerman back to the Huntington, and what better way to mark her triumphant return than a stage adaptation of The Jungle Book ? Some of our subscribers (and staff) still haven't fully recovered from...

The Power of Duff marks the return of playwright Stephen Belber to the Huntington, following 2005's Carol Mulroney (the first production of ours to feature Johanna Day, who has since become a favorite of many of our audience members). Directed ...

From the IRNE Awards website: The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards were founded by Beverly Creasey of the Journal Newspapers and Larry Stark of the TheaterMirror in 1997. The IRNE Awards recognize the extraordinary wealth of tale...

From Allison McDonough, Assistant to Managing Director Michael Maso It is always a lonely week on my side of the office when Michael Maso is out of town, especially when I can imagine all the FANTASTIC theatre that he's seeing. A few weeks ago,...

We are thrilled to introduce you to Courtney Stewart , our 2013 Poetry Out Loud Champion. This image, captured by David Marshall at the moment his name was announced as Champion, captures the spirit of the program perfectly. This past Sunday, ...

Our relationship with director Maria Aitken goes back to 2007 with her production of Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps , which moved on to Broadway and ran for nearly 800 performances. Fortunately she appears to reciprocate our love, and we've sinc...

A Raisin in the Sun achieved instant success when it premiered in 1959. However, the titanic reputation of Lorraine Hansberry's masterpiece has obscured the legacy of black playwrights who preceded her. While she was the first black woman to have...

This past Wednesday night marked a miracle: Liesl Tommy finally opened a Huntington show on schedule. Liesl’s previous two Huntington Openings were canceled –from a huge snowstorm January 5, 2011 ( Ruined ) and because of the Back Bay Blackout in...

This past Friday night we hosted our second #Twittermission event, encouraging the audience to tweet us questions about the production to be answered by an artist involved the show. We were lucky enough to be joined by Omar Robinson , currently...

The cast and crew of our new production of A Raisin In The Sun have been working over the past few weeks to bring Liesl Tommy's fresh new vision of this timeless American classic to the stage. Cast members Keona Welch (Beneatha), LeRoy McClain...

Theatre is one of the oldest human art forms, but somewhere along the way, it developed a stigma as being for “old people.” There’s plenty of sociological and cultural history that can explain this — cost, tradition, increasing accessibility to...

Tuesday marked the first day of rehearsal for A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry here at the Huntington. It’s only the second show that we’ve produced more than once in the last 31 years (the other being Candide in 1989 and again in 2011 )....

Our inaugural #Twittermission took place on the evening of January 30. The Twitterverse was buzzing with excitement when we announced the event, and there were many people following closesly as I communicated over video chat with Invisible Man...

As Twitter has continued to grow in popularity, there's been a lot of talk in the theatre world about how to integrate it (and other social media platforms / smartphone apps) into performances. Many of you have probably already heard or read about...

My desk is currently host to a plethora of baked goods, individually bagged and awaiting sale. While we dramaturgs generally strive to bring good will and sugary cheer to all, there is a more specific reason behind these efforts today. On this day...

Given the depth and complexity of the themes explored in Invisible Man (both the novel and our currently running stage adaptation), we've invited local scholars who study Ellison, his work, and/or broader themes of African-American literature a...

Have you seen Invisible Man ? Please share your comments with us. In the final moment of the play, Invisible Man declares, "Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?" When have you felt invisible? Did this story speak for you...

“I was blown away by Mary Zimmerman’s transporting and visually stunning production. It immediately reminded me of what I love about her work – her big heart, sophisticated mind, and playful imagination. In this latest creation, she brilliantly...

The Jungle Book creative team at the Taj Mahal: TJ Gerkens, Dan Ostling, Ajay Rathore Singh, Leo Chiang, Mara Blumenfeld, and Doug Peck. When Disney Theatrical Group conceived of a stage version of the classic 1967 film The Jungle Book , they easi...

Name: Akash Chopra Role: Mowgli Hometown: New York City, New York What has been your favorite moment while performing The Jungle Book ? Opening night was magical and I will never forget it. How are you like your character? Mowgli is exciting and...

“Uniquely comic and unabashedly theatrical, The Power of Duff also pulses with incredible emotional clarity. It tells the transformative story of one man waking up to life, just as it seemed he was too lost and it was too late.” — Peter DuBois...

Stephen Belber is an acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, and film director. His plays include his breakout hit Tape starring Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke, his Broadway debut Match directed by the Huntington's former Artistic Director...

In Stephen Belber’s The Power of Duff , newscaster Charlie Duff delivers a polished send-off nightly: “Have a safe and happy night.” Like Edward R. Murrow’s “Good night and good luck” or Walter Cronkite’s “And that’s the way it is,” Charlie’s fin...

“This play captures a slice of life that our audience will undoubtedly recognize. We have been talking about a revival of A.R. Gurney’s American comedy of manners for a few years now, and when we learned Maria Aitken was available to direct it, th...

When John’s mother Ann orders her drink — “a very dry martini, with plenty of ice... and a small twist of lemon” — her patrician credentials are on full display. The martini is the beverage par excellence of America’s much-dwindled leisure class....

Tickets have just gone on sale for our 2013-2014 Season , and we could not have picked a better lineup to keep our momentum going from last season. From Our Town to the Tony Awards and everything in between, it's been a pretty good year for us, a...

We recently announced the official launch of our " Community Membership Program ," the latest in our ongoing efforts to provide affordable opportunities for any and everyone to attend our productions, regardless of income or economic status. We...

Educating Rita starts previews this Friday, and in a fascinating coincidence, the subject of adult learners and continuing education is all over the news. In the play, Rita is a hairdresser who discovers a passion for learning and English...

The astounding thing about the theatre is how it requires a level of excellence and precision equal to, if not greater than, film and TV — but it's live! A not-so-brilliant or original realization, I know, but one that needs restating as often as...

I've decided to do a little blogging again. Not so much because I have the time, but because I miss it. And we have some very exciting projects to tell you about this fall! The first thrilling project is The Jungle Book . We first heard about The...

We've been busy this month getting ready for The Jungle Book to arrive from Chicago. Bringing in a show of this scale requires a little reconfiguration, and sometimes some capital improvements. This slideshow shows you a little of the work we've...

Scenery Mechanic Jesse Washburn, slicing through the brush of the jungle with his handy plasma cutter What helps the Huntington take a show built by our Chicagoan comrades and fit it into our own home-on-Huntington-Avenue? What can eat through...

To celebrate their 75th anniversary, our friends at the Celebrity Series of Boston have teamed up with renowned artist Luke Jerram to bring his " Play Me, I'm Yours! " public piano installation project to Boston. From September 27 through October...

The Huntington is looking for a few people to play extras in several pre-recorded video scenes for our upcoming production of Stephen Belber's The Power of Duff (s ince it is a show about a news anchor, it only makes sense that there would be some...

Page property . . From page: David Wilson Barnes and Jennifer Westfeldt Lead The Cast of Stephen Belber's The Power of Duff at the Huntington Theatre Company Beginning October 11 [6762] Property: Main body

Sixteen members of the cast of the Huntington Theatre Company's production of The Jungle Book will perform the National Anthem tomorrow, Saturday, September 14, 2013, at Fenway Park before the nationally televised 1:05pm Red Sox game versus the N...

Due to popular demand, the Huntington Theatre Company again extends the run of its world premiere adaptation of The Jungle Book — the final performance will now be Sunday, October 20. The “inventive and visually stunning” ( Entertainment Weekly )...

Wow. What just happened? One moment it's August and everything is lovely, fine, and humid, then this massive army of people shows up from Chicago and takes over our rehearsal hall and stage and then all of the sudden it's autumn and we have a 35...

Akash Chopra (Mowgli) and Kevin Carolan (Baloo) in The Jungle Book . Photo: Liz Lauren Years after his uncle Walt’s death, Roy E. Disney commented, “With The Jungle Book, he certainly got hooked on the jungle and the characters that lived there.”...

The Huntington Theatre Company presents a concert version of Jason Robert Brown’s powerful contemporary musical The Last Five Years for three performances only November 23 and 24. Adam Kantor ( Rent, Avenue Q ) and& Betsy Wolfe ( The Mystery...

The twelve-piece jazz/Indian fusion orchestra from the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of The Jungle Book will perform Out of the Jungle at Johnny D’s Uptown in Somerville on Sunday, October 6 at 8:15pm. The one-night-only event is a...

(BOSTON) — On Saturday, the Huntington Theatre Company's production of The Jungle Book became the most successful production in the company's 31-year history, grossing $1,584,263 to date with three full weeks remaining in its run. It surpasses...

Stage & Screen , a collaboration between Coolidge Corner Theatre and Huntington Theatre Company that explores the depictions of shared themes in Huntington productions and acclaimed films, begins its second season of collaboration on Monday,...

“Most of the characters I create tend to be equipped with language, but woefully ill-equipped when it comes to accurately and honestly expressing their selves, a dilemma I find to be rather human. The world often appears to me to be full of good...

To call David Rockwell simply “a designer” doesn’t capture the vast range of his work. With offices in New York, Madrid, and Dubai, he leads a 150-person team called the Rockwell Group and takes on projects that range from playgrounds to airports....

I'm just gonna put this out there: the crazy hybrid Indian-Jazz-fusion music of The Jungle Book is worth the price of admission alone (one of the cast members told me at the first rehearsal, "You ain't lived til' you've heard blues sitar"). This...

(BOSTON) — The Huntington Theatre Company's production of The Jungle Book will play its 100 th performance on Tuesday, October 8 at 7:30pm. The Jungle Book is produced in association with Chicago's Goodman Theatre where the run began on...

A sitar and a trombone walk into a bar… No, this isn’t the set up for a bad joke; this was the set up for my Sunday night, when I headed to Johnny D’s Uptown in Somerville to see The Jungle Book orchestra spend some well-deserved time in the...

From the Private Lives 35 Below Party By now I'm sure most of you have heard about the Huntington's fantastic 35 Below program, which offers $25 tickets for any & all performances for anyone under the age of 35 * . It's pretty much the best deal...

(Boston) — Marsh & McLennan Agency has partnered with several local businesses to donate a performance of the Huntington Theatre Company's hit production of The Jungle Book to the Marilyn Rodman Theatre for Kids . Thanks to the generosity of t...

By now, it's pretty well known that we recently received a Tony Award . But then...so now what? Well, for one thing, we've got this fancy little trophy that's hangin' out at the theatre. So that's cool. And we've been taking turns passing it aroun...

Texas newscaster Michelle Valles and Charles Duff from The Power of Duff have a lot more in common than their day job. Like Charlie, Michelle found herself in the middle of a controversy when her popular sign off phrase “Goodbye and hasta mañana”...

Henry Jewett as Macbeth the eponymous character from the Scottish play. Painted by Jacob Binder in 1927. Hanging over the stairwell to the mezzanine in the BU Theatre hangs a dusty old portrait of a man dressed in Elizabethan garb. A small plaque...

(Boston) — The Power of Duff playwright Stephen Belber and Trinity College professor of religion in public life Mark Silk will lead the conversation at the Huntington Theatre Company's Humanities Forum on Sunday, November 3rd following the 2pm...

Albert Ramsdell Gurney, Jr. was born in 1930, scion of a prosperous Buffalo family. He grew up, in his words, “surrounded by plays” — at school, on the radio, at the charity performances of his parents’ social clubs, on weekend trips to local...

For a show called The Cocktail Hour , it should come as no surprise that there's a whole lotta drinkin' goin' on over the course of the evening. It would be irresponsible* of us to encourage you to keep the pace every time that Ann utters "Just a...

In case you can't make it out to Somerville to try our custom Cocktail Hour cocktail "The Cocktail Hour" at The Independent , we've got another new concoction to tantalize your tastebuds — and this one's only available south of the Charles. Our...

As you know, it’s been an exciting time for us here in Boston. The World Series brought really phenomenal energy to Boston and we had a great time watching it all unfold. We also thoroughly enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek way Pinsky further immortaliz...

Introducing: FourPlay ! We all entered the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program in 2011 and now meet regularly as a writer's group. Here's a little bit about what we've all been up to: Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro has been revising her play, Mammal...

(BOSTON) — Huntington Theatre Company kicks off 2014 with David Ives' sexy Broadway smash hit Venus In Fur , deemed "90 minutes of good, kinky fun," by The New York Times . Daniel Goldstein ( God of Carnage ) returns to the Huntington to direct t...

James Waterston & Richard Poe in The Cocktail Hour . Photo: T. Charles Erickson Here at the Huntington, we pride ourselves on our post-show offerings, from the audience conversations that take place after almost every performance to the Actors...

Today is the first day of auditions for Becoming Cuba by playwright-in-residence Melinda Lopez. It's also #GivingTuesday , which you've probably noticed if you've gone anywhere near any kind of social media today and found yourself bombarded with...

I saw some conversation on Twitter, both lamenting the overexposure of #GivingTuesday appeals, and questioning the effectiveness of having every single not-for-profit in the country ask for money on the exact same day. But you know what's better...

Fresh from the world premiere of his newest play, Family Furniture , The Cocktail Hour playwright A.R. Gurney stopped by the BU Theatre this past weekend to catch a performance of his psuedo-meta-auto-biographical show. He stopped along the way t...

It is a unique experience to be in a room full of playwrights. First, because there is always that underlying suspicion that something you say will make it to one of their plays. Second, it is interesting to see how much of themselves, although no...

From Mike Wellman, Assistant Master Electrician Venus in Fur is a little different than most shows for us. The traditional light plot over the stage is very light because of the ceiling built into the set. Lighting designer ML Geiger uses 5000 wa...

Dear Teachers & Friends, Alex Truppi, Education Manager, Curriculum & Instruction In the midst of this busy season, it's always important to take a step back and remember what we really value in life — who are the people and what are the experienc...